Rather like his UK counterpart, Ricky Gervais, who before The Office was featured in the humorous current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show, one of Steve Carell's important roles before the US version of The Office was on the news satire series The Daily Show.

Steve Carell graduated in 1984 from Denison University, in Ohio, where he majored in history and theatre and, in 1987, he moved to Chicago and joined the Second City improv theatre, where he met his wife to be Nancy Walls.

Carell notched up a variety of film and TV credits including the short-lived shows: The Dana Carvey Show, Over the Top and Watching Ellie.

His film credits included Bruce Almighty, Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he not only had the main role in but also co-wrote.

Steve Carell's key TV role has been playing Michael Scott in The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006.

In 2007, Steve Carell had the lead role of Evan in Evan Almighty, the character whom he played in Bruce Almighty.

On 16 July 2009, it was announced that Steve Carell had been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Actor, Comedy for his role in The Office.

In 2010 Steve Carell and Tina Fey co-starred as Phil and Claire Foster in the film Date Night.

In June 2010 it was revealed that Steve Carell would leave the US version of The Office at the end of its 2010-2011 series.

His subsequent movies include Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Foxcatcher, and The Big Short.